Call it a proud Dad moment, or call it a proud coach moment; either would be correct.

When I shared the Pro-Am scores of the local bowlers, I had no idea how our bowlers compared to others in their divisions.

As it turns out, they stacked up pretty doggone well.

Albemarle Lanes sent four youth bowlers to compete in Chesapeake on August 10, and all 10 of them turned in top-10 performances, including the 14 and over boys champion, Bryce Hawkins.

Bryce opened his first game with the first 4 strikes and went on to a 208 game, while his professional partner, Chris Barry, of Black Mountain, NC, followed an opening frame spare with 10 consecutive strikes and a 288 score.

Bryce followed with games of 183 and 204 for a 595 scratch series plus his 216 pins of handicap to give him an 811 handicap total.

His three PBA members added 727 pins to give Bryce a total of 1540, earning him the first place trophy and a $65 scholarship. His 1540 was the highest of not only his division, but all divisions, including the adults.

My personal pride doesn’t end with Bryce though.

As the youth league director at Albemarle Lanes, I consider all the youth bowlers my kids, so I was extremely proud of the other three entrants as well.

Joshua Davenport followed an opening frame miss with an 8-bagger to toss an impressive 240 game enroute to a fourth place finish in the 14 and over boys division.

Joshua and his pro partners teamed up for a 1452 total.

The only downside of Joshua’s outstanding performance was his fourth place finish was one spot from the scholarship cut.

Jacob Davenport’s 1359 earned him a 9th place finish in the 13 and under guy’s division, while Ben Hawkins took 10th in the 14 and over boys with a total of 1354.

Last week, I shared the tight races of our local leagues and Monday night claimed its summer champion last week.

The night started with a two-team tie atop the standings, but in the end the team of David Ange, Matt Stanwick, and Boris Beatty (Team 3) turned out to be too much for the team of Donald Spencer, David Tripp, and Denwood Williams (Team 2). Team 3 earned all 4 points during the final night.

Overall for the night last Monday, there were 5 guys who tossed series total of over 600 and ironically, none of them came from the two teams battling for the league title. Jeffrey Barefoot was the most consistent over the night, tossing games of 215, 222, and 224 for a league leading 661 session.

Trailing only Barefoot was William Swinson’s 252-655. James Lang’s 229-646, Terrence Riddick’s 230-643, and Chris Farrell’s 214-624 rounded out the assault of the pins last Monday.

The ladies’ side of the sheet found Crystal Owen’s 197-517 along with Patsy Sanders’ 155-444, Karen Ashley’s 163-436, and Beth Marshall’s 167 game.

Thursday Night Quartet avoided a potential three-way tie for first last week when The Misfits of Cicley Mooney, Sherry Huntley, Travis Mooney, Chainey Huntley, and Josh Mooney took three points from Frozen Ropes to claim the summer league title.

Like Monday night though, none of the night’s top scores came from the championship deciding pair.

Lindsey Perry’s 254-616 topped everyone from Thursday, followed by John Turner’s 214-603 and Rondell Christan’s 224-582. Brittney Gaumond and Stephanie Winslow led the ladies with tallies of 207-533 and 200-491 respectively.

Scarlett Manderson took the top spot for the Bumpers with a nice 218-419 morning followed by Cheyanne Hardison’s 228-395.

The Youth Crazy-8 was more of the same with Bryce Hawkins firing a 297 final game of the season to send him to the youth division title with an 824 series. Aven Hall’s 258-683 and Bubba Vancsoy’s 261-654 finished second and third.

The youth program will hold sign ups for the fall league this coming Saturday from 9:00-noon. Bowlers who pay their $20.00 sanction fee can bowl for free until noon.

The adult leagues are also still accepting teams and individuals for Monday Mixed League, USBC leagues on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and women’s leagues on Wednesday nights and Thursday mornings.

Anyone with questions about the leagues can stop by Albemarle Lanes to obtain more information.